Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Whatchamacallit Reviews: The movie is about a man
in witness protection, if you had to choose witness protection names, what
would they be?

KB: Hooty McBoobity

Dax Shepard: C’mon, for real?

WR: That would really keep you protected.

DS: I think I would go by Dad Shepard.

KB: You don’t think that would be too…similar?

DS: Said Hooty McBoobity.

KB: First of all, don’t talk to me about Hooty McBoobity.
It’s because it’s from my favorite episode of the Simpsons where they take
Marge down to the DMV and have her name legally changed to Hooty McBoobity.

DS: I don’t know if it actually works this way, but we were
told that is works this way, that SAG—the Screen Actor’s Guild—only permits one
person to have a name at a given time. That’s why John C. Reilly has the “C”,
but once someone dies, that name is back on the books. So I told Kristen that I
was going to legally change my name to Marlon Brando, so it would say like “Parenthood,
starring Marlon Brando”.

KB: He has been threatening this for a while.

DS: So maybe I would, for witness protection, go by Rock
Hudson.

KB: And I would go by Barbara Stanwick.

WR: Very classy. Speaking of names, on twitter, you’re
DaxShepard1because there was already a DaxShepard?

DS: There are tons. Fake ones, yes. They have stolen the
name.

KB: The person who took “KristenBell”, because IMKristenBell
came forward and said “Hey, you know if you want this, I’m just a fan” and was
being cute like no big deal, but the prick who took DaxShepard has not come
forward and I feel okay saying prick because I highly doubt his name is not
actually Dax Shepard.

WR: You do a lot of getaway driving, which is more of a
rush, chasing or being chased?

DS: Being chased, for sure. Stakes are much higher.

KB: Being chased, for sure.

DS: You can even see it on these televised police chases,
the guy running’s heart rate is up in the 170s to 200s doing a lot of midbrain
reptilian thinking. The cops are very cool and calm and following their
playbooks.

KB: I’ve been followed in my car before and my hands were
sweating, my hands were shaking, it was a really bad feeling.

DS: The chasing, who cares? It’s fun.

KB: Yeah, I’ll chase anyone.

DS: Sure. Drop of a hat.

KB: And I’ll chase them while I’m asleep--practically asleep
behind the wheel.

DS: Of course you would.

WR: So if you were part of a heist, what part would you
be?

KB: Ooooh. I would definitely be the person in the cat suit
that repels into the building. I don’t know what my responsibilities would be
beyond that point, but I would repel and it would be some sort of neoprene or
shiny, black leather.

WR: I’m not sure they have much other responsibility
afterwards.

KB: I’d let everyone it. I’d shimmy through the milk shoot
if it was a low level job. My sisters used to shove me through the milk shoot
if we forgot our key. They’d be like, “make a plank!” and then they would shove
me through the little milk shoot. So in fact, I’ve already had this job. (to
Dax) What would you do?

DS: I would be the getaway driver.

KB: You wouldn’t be the muscle? (clicks tongue)

DS: I’m handy with a pistol, but I think I would definitely
be the getaway driver. God knows I couldn’t be a passenger running out of the
bank, letting someone else drive getaway.

KB: Nobody else is allowed to drive if Dax is in the car.
Not possible.

DS: No it’s not.

WR: Where did you get your driving training?

DS: I worked for GM as a kid and was on racetracks very
young. I worked at a place that raced cars when I was 14.

KB: He did dirt biking when he was three years old.

DS: My stepdad raced GP motorcycles. I got into motorcycles.
I drag raced in high school. Then I off-road race now.

KB: He won’t tell you this, but I will. When we were doing
the movie, we got some really, really killer stunt drivers and they said to Dax
at the end of the film, because they were driving for Bradley and other people—
but Dax did all his own driving, and they were actually on the road with him,
they said to Dax, “You know, if you were to become a stunt man you would be one
of the best stuntman in the country, if not the world right now.”

WR: Wow! That’s a big compliment!

DS: Well, I was paying their checks, so you gotta take that
with a grain of salt.

WR: Switching gears, what is your favorite part about
Austin?

KB: Oof, I mean, the lake, the weather, the attitude, the
food trucks, there’s not any specific…

DS: It’s so hot though that you can hang. That’s kind of
cool that if it’s cold or hot, it’s 68 degrees or whatever the hell it is.

KB: I like the mental state of the city, the mental and the
emotional state is so appealing to me. Everyone is really nice and no one is
that weird. I mean everyone is weird, but not too weird and everyone is nice,
but not too nice.

DS: The right kind of weird.

KB: The right kind of weird.

WR: It’s like they say, “Keep Austin Weird”. To wrap up,
what was the best story that happened while filming?

DS: Our stunt coordinator pulled a terrible prank.

KB: Amazing.

DS: He really got us. It wasted way too much of our shooting
day and I was ultimately very mad, but it was tremendous.

**SPOILER**

KB: Okay, so when we got to Cal State, Northridge, where we
drive the car up on the steps of the library. It was sort of unheard of, doing
that. We got the university to agree to it.

DS: We had to petition the board and explain to them why it
wouldn’t damage the stairs.

KB: It was monumental to the end of the film, because you
never see a huge racecar driving up the steps of a library like that. So the
morning we get there, they had laid down the paper, they had run the stunt,
etcetera, etcetera and while Dax is prepping to do it, this police officer says
“What are you doing over there? You’re driving this car up to there? No
absolutely you’re not.” And everyone from the film is like “No, no, we have
permission from the board, these are our permits to shoot here” Police officer
says, “I don’t care what you have, it’s not happening on my watch or someone is
getting arrested.” So we had a police officer telling us we couldn’t do a stunt
we knew we could do. This went on for two hours.Dax’s head was steaming out the ears, his whole face face
was red, he was getting punk’d. The police officer was a buddy of somebody’s.

DS: He was a phenomenal actor, that police officer.

KB: Oh my god, so good.

DS: Once I got that thing was clicking, that we weren’t
going to get this, now I’m going to tell this motherfucker how I feel.

KB: Then the police officer was like, “Just kidding”, or
something, I can’t remember how it was revealed but it was really tense for a
while and then it turned out to be an amazing prank.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

You don’t have to look very hard at Drew Silver to see that mistakes have been made. His fleeting fame as the drummer for a one-hit wonder rock band is nearly a decade behind him. He lives in the Versailles, an apartment building filled almost exclusively with divorced men like him, and makes a living playing in wedding bands. His ex-wife, Denise, is about to marry a guy Silver can’t quite bring himself to hate. And his Princeton-bound teenage daughter Casey has just confided in him that she’s pregnant—because Silver is the one she cares least about letting down.

So when he learns that his heart requires emergency, lifesaving surgery, Silver makes the radical decision to refuse the operation, choosing instead to use what little time he has left to repair his relationship with Casey, become a better man, and live in the moment, even if that moment isn't destined to last very long. As his exasperated family looks on, Silver grapples with the ultimate question of whether or not his own life is worth saving.

With the wedding looming and both Silver and Casey in crisis, this broken family struggles to come together, only to risk damaging each other even more.

REVIEW

I’ve read
everything Jonathan Tropper has written, from the humorous to the touching, and
yet this book is different from anything else he’s ever written. You can still
tell he’s written it if you’ve read enough of his books. It still centers
around a non-practicing jewish man in his 30s-40s who has screwed up his life
in some way shape of form. It contains humor, touching moments, and leaves the
reader with a sense fulfillment in having read a book that you instantly are
happy you read, and know was not wasted time.

But this book
was different as well. The first fifth of the book is incredibly depressing,
not that Tropper doesn’t usually start off in chaos and sadness, his last book
This is Where I leave you Now takes place with a family sitting shiva for their
deceased father. But this book starts with a depressed, lonely, divorced man
who has lost everything of value to him. His marriage, his daughter’s
respect/love, and his career. He is a man sitting in neutral at the low point
in his life, and has been for years. And it’s not until the book gets about a
fifth of the way in that Tropper begins to lighten the mood with some of his
famous awkward family dynamic humor.

But this humor
almost seems to come to little to late to effectively cut through the sadness
that has already set into the story. Of course, Tropper may be trying something
new, losing some of his telltale witty and awkward situations for a more
serious book about life and death and the effect everyone has on everyone else,
whether they know it or not.

This review may not sound happy and promising, but let me be
clear, I very much loved this book, it is just not what I was expecting. I
would easily recommend it to family and friends and fully plan to, but for
those who are curious and read This is Where I Leave You Now, or Plan B, or
Book of Joe and loved them for their humor and high degree of writing know,
this is incredibly well written, it just wont have you rolling in the aisles.
But it, like its predecessors, will still leave you breathless as it tugs at
your heart strings, making you both sad to see it over, and happy to have
chosen to have read it.

Monday, August 20, 2012

It's all about supply and demand when a high school deals with the sudden exodus of male students.

The boy recession has hit Julius P. Heil High, and the remaining boys find that their stock is on the rise: With little competition, even the most unlikely guys have a good chance at making the team and getting the girl. Guitar-strumming, class-skipping Hunter Fahrenbach never wanted to be a hot commodity, but the popular girls can't help but notice his unconventional good looks. With a little work, he might even by boyfriend material.

But for down-to-earth Kelly Robbins, the boy recession is causing all sorts of problems. She has secretly liked her good friend Hunter for a while now, but how can she stand out in a crowd of overzealous Spandexers?

As if dating wasn't hard enough without a four-to-one ratio!

REVIEW

The Boy
Recession is not the most original book, but it certainly is enjoyable. It is
filled with relatable and endearing characters who keep the story interesting
the reader glued to the pages.

Readers
will thoroughly enjoy Eugene’s shockingly perverse (and successful) money
making schemes and with the cool authority that he pulls them off.

(slight
scene spoiler)

My person
favorite waswhen Eugene is
getting the promstitutes (prom dates he’s sold to the girls from other schools)
ready, by having them watch Pride and Prejudice.

OF course,
besides humorous scenes such as the one mentioned above, the book is propelled
primarily by its characters. I legitimately wanted to find out what happened to
everyone after the summer, and in my opinion that is the mark of good character
creation.

All in all the Boy recession is not incredibly original nor
surprising, but it is a funny, well written young adult novel, that will
entertain and leave the reader with a happy feeling in their belly after
finishing. A fun summer read.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Miranda wakes up alone on a park bench with no memory. In her panic, she releases a mysterious energy that incites pure terror in everyone around her. Except Peter, a boy who isn’t at all surprised by Miranda’s shocking ability.

Left with no choice but to trust this stranger, Miranda discovers she was trained to be a weapon and is part of an elite force of genetically-altered teens who possess flawless combat skills and powers strong enough to destroy a city. But adjusting to her old life isn’t easy—especially with Noah, the boyfriend she can't remember loving.

Then Miranda uncovers a dark truth that sets her team on the run. Suddenly her past doesn’t seem to matter...when there may not be a future.

REVIEW

Some authors you
can just tell are going to be amazing. I’ve had my eye on Dan Krokos and False
Memory since it was announced the book was being published by Disney Hyperion.
Sometimes these gut feelings are wrong but, man when they’re right the books
are usually pretty amazing.

This is one of
those times where my gut was right.

False Memory is
an exciting blend of fantastic characters, a captivating plot, and almost
non-stop action. This coupled with Krokos’s mesmerizing writing style and
you’ve got a real hit on your hands.

Of course, if
you’re not sure who this book will appeal to, the answer is everyone. Boys will
love the non-stop action, gun fights, and mystery of the roses back-story.
Girls will love the action and the love story interest.

Speaking of the
love interest part of the story, when it first came up I was a little scared, I
didn’t want this book, which was going in such a great direction, to get bogged
down in a weak attempt at a love.

But I should
have had more faith in Krokos.

Krokos weaves a
story that while utilizing the love aspect of the story, it is not the primary
focus, but instead a strong secondary story that helps carry the primary story
of discovering the truth behind these false memories (hence the title of the
book). Of course, not only is it well utilized, it is also well crafted, and
between that, the interesting characters, and the shocking twists and surprises
filling the book, readers will be utterly unable to put this book down.

In case you weren’t able to tell from my glowing praise, I loved
False Memory. I don’t know what else to say except that I can only hope that
the sequel (and there will be one) is as good as the first in this fantastic
series.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Jesse James Dawson was once an ordinary man until he discovered that demons were real, and fighting them meant putting his own soul on the line. His new case is a beauty: Gretchen Keene, a Hollywood starlet who's become an unwitting catalyst in an all-out demon war. It's not her soul Jesse needs to protect, but the two-hundred-and-seventy-six others she's carting around--all the souls sold to spend just one night with the blonde bombshell. That's a lot of baggage, although it might explain her meteoric rise to fame. And it's all up for grabs by the demon world.

All Jesse has to do is keep her safe until New Years. Sounds easy.But darkness is casting a nasty shadow in the California sun--a new unseen enemy is closing in and leaving Jesse to wonder, how do you fight something you can't see coming?

REVIEW

I’ve been a fan
of K.A. Stewart since her first book A Devil in the Details, it and each of her
successive books are sharp, action-packed, filled with the slightest bit of
humor, and above all else well written and captivating. But while the other two
books A Shot in the Dark and A Devil in the Details are great books, I honestly
believe A Wolf at the Door is her best yet.

A Wolf at the
Door, opens the door to larger questions in the series. What is the demon war
raging on, who exactly is Ivan, and what exactly is magic.

But if these
greater story arcs and mysterious questions are not enough for you, this book
also contains enough action to keep even the most jaded of action junkies
satiated. Jesse has to fight monsters in a way that he’s never had to fight
before, and while there weren’t any normal champion bouts fought by Jesse,
there was still plenty of action between his fights with the other creature
sent at him.

For those of you
who haven’t read this book, you should, but only after reading the first two
books in the series. This is not a book that will be nearly as well appreciated
without the proper knowledge and setting in place brought on from knowing what
happened before it. That said each book is well written, action-packed, and
full of interesting and fun characters (especially Jesse and Axel). Fans of
Kevin Hearne will absolutely love this and I wholeheartedly recommend it to
anyone looking for an utterly engrossing book that will leave them shaking for
more.

Since he changed, Pino has struggled to live a quiet life with his father Gepetto. But a boy who used to be a wooden puppet doesn’t fit in well with the other villagers. When Pino creates a replica of his Gepetto’s late wife and brings it to life, the two are chased out of their village by an angry mob demanding the resurrection of their own loved ones. On the run with a dying Gepetto, Pino must face a world that would seek to use—and misuse—him for his powers. And when Pino discovers that his abilities are slowly transforming him back into a puppet, he faces a choice: strike a deal with those who only want to use him, or stand up for who he really is.

REVIEW

Pinocchio, the
little wooden puppet made by the carpenter Gepetto and brought to life through
magic, you would think that would be the end of the story, but Scott William
Carter proves that this is only the background to the real story. A story of
discovery and strength.

Carter does an
amazing job capturing the essence of humanity in Pinocchio, focusing on how a
boy who is different from everyone else, a boy altogether more pure and
special, would feel and grow in a world fearful of him and his abilities.

Wooden Bones is
dark, complex, and full of rich and inviting characters. The author breaths
life into a story told time and time again, giving the story depth and making
it into something altogether richer.

All in all, I
have no trouble recommending Wooden Bones to anyone, and I fully intend to. I
was sucked in and couldn’t put it down until the end. I know it’s a small book,
and some might wonder if they should buy a book they might finish in a day or
so, but believe me when I say that this book is beautifully written, edited to
perfection, and is worth every penny it costs. A great book, go buy it now.